Chapter 68: Mountain River Brush (Eight)

Fu Mi nodded. “That’s right. I don’t think it’s just me—your Spirit Energy should have been greatly weakened as well.”

The two sensed it, and sure enough, the Spirit Energy in their bodies circulated sluggishly, as if locked by something.

San Zhi guessed, “It must be this town’s restriction. It locks the Spirit Energy of outsiders.”

He had been to some other Weird Domains before, and some places were like this one, restricting a portion of one’s Spirit Energy.

San Zhi sighed. “To restrict so many people’s Spirit Energy, this Weird Domain’s Anomalous Domain Lord truly has some skill.”

Yun Xueqing said, “The one restricting this town might not necessarily be the Anomalous Domain Lord.”

They hadn’t experienced this restriction back in Ugly Town—only in Beauty Town did it appear, and the affected area was too small.

Fu Mi nodded. “Two possibilities. Either the one who did this is the Anomalous Domain Lord, and It is currently in Beauty Town, so due to Its abilities, it only covers this place.”

Yun Xueqing continued from his words, “Or it’s some other Weird that did it.”

In this town, there were only two suspects who might pull something like this: the rumored Red Matchmaker who painted faces for people, and the Town Mayor who collected beauty taxes. They were the most likely culprits.

San Zhi said, “No more guessing. We’ll know once we go take a look.”

That was what he said, but facing an unknown enemy, he had no confidence deep down.

Yun Xueqing was the calmest of them all. As they walked, he even had the mood to ask Fu Mi, “Who did you learn your divination techniques from?”

“My master,” Fu Mi replied somewhat vaguely. “Why?”

“Nothing. I just think your hand gestures for calculation look a lot like someone I know. He’s also very skilled at divination.” Yun Xueqing asked casually, “Who is your master?”

Fu Mi didn’t answer his question directly but countered, “They look a lot like someone you know? Then we must be quite fated.”

The two chatted idly back and forth, while San Zhi’s expression grew a bit strange.

Because he knew that Fu Mi’s master was none other than Shen Le, the leader of Strategy God Heavens.

But what was there to hide about it? It was common knowledge in Strategy God Heavens.

Fu Mi was very young and had no combat ability to speak of. He only had his mystical divination skills and a smart brain.

This allowed him to become a core member of Strategy God Heavens, but there was another important reason: he was a connected insider.

Insiders were everywhere, even in a cult like Strategy God Heavens.

Who would dare offend the leader’s one and only disciple?

San Zhi’s thoughts wandered aimlessly: If Shen Le died in some Weird Domain one day, or if his deal-making with the Weirds fell through and he “unfortunately” got his head bitten off, this organization might end up inherited by Fu Mi, the little prince.

San Zhi felt annoyed inside. He glanced at Fu Mi, who looked harmless to humans and animals, then silently withdrew his gaze and spat inwardly: Pretending to be a pig to eat a tiger, you little wench, damn insider.

They walked along leisurely like this until they reached the rumored 404 Street, Building 44.

They hadn’t even gone upstairs yet when the scene downstairs caught their attention.

The entrance to the downstairs unit was filled with wreaths, and a small spirit shed had been set up, inside which stood Paper Men and a portrait of the deceased.

The portrait showed a beautiful woman, but she had no distinctive features—her face was like that of most of the townsfolk.

San Zhi chuckled and couldn’t resist telling a hellish joke. “Do you think the people in this town can tell each other apart when they greet one another?”

No one paid him any mind. Instead, they focused on the spirit shed.

The portrait, neglected for so long, seemed to notice the approach of the living. Its expression livened up, its eyes sticking to the three of them, tracking their every move.

They examined it for a bit but found no clues. Yun Xueqing pointed upstairs. “Let’s head up first. Though there’s no deadline specified for our arrival, going too late might not be good.”

He noticed that while they had been inspecting the spirit shed, people had been going upstairs one after another.

Those going up might have been other residents of the building, or perhaps unfortunates selected like themselves.

No matter who they were, they should hurry up. Arriving last would inevitably make them a target of attention.

San Zhi and Fu Mi agreed it made sense and followed him up.

Fourth floor, Unit 4—the number was also 404. Its door stood open. Before they even entered, they heard voices from inside.

The Great Compassion Mantra blared outward like demonic music seeping from the door, its thick, ancient tones assaulting their ears.

Yun Xueqing, having studied the Dao, had some knowledge of Buddhism. He realized that the blaring Great Compassion Mantra had all its words recited backward.

Yun Xueqing lowered his eyelashes and said nothing.

The three entered one after another and found the space inside surprisingly large. Over a dozen people stood in the room. Some looked pale-faced, clearly selected like themselves.

Others wore mourning clothes with white cloths draped over their heads, their faces expressionless like dolls.

Yun Xueqing scanned their faces and confirmed they all looked very similar, hard to distinguish. But the woman who had beaten the gong yesterday was recognized by him at a glance.

This should be the Mourning Envoy.

The Mourning Envoy said to Yun Xueqing and the other two, “Dear guests, please come with me to the inner room to change into mourning clothes.”

The three didn’t refuse and followed her to the bedroom.

She wore all white and made no special demands of them, only having them tie white cloths over their heads as well.

Back in the living room, nothing happened. They simply waited a good while longer until a few latecomers finally arrived.

Even though they were late, the Mourning Envoy showed no anger and had them don white cloths just the same before returning to the living room.

The Mourning Envoy nodded to the group. “Since everyone is here, please follow me.”

She led the crowd to another empty room. This room was extraordinarily large—Yun Xueqing estimated it was at least the size of four living rooms.

He found it odd: This was just an ordinary residential building, with four units per floor. Each apartment was probably just over 100 square meters, yet this one room already took up more than 100 square meters.

There was only one possibility: This room no longer belonged solely to 404 but connected to the neighboring unit.

Unit 403 next door must also belong to this household. He had knocked down the walls between 404 and 403, then renovated 403 into a purely large room to house this coffin.

The vast space was empty, devoid of any furniture. In the center stood a wooden coffin, flanked by some strange implements.

Following the Mourning Envoy’s instructions, Yun Xueqing and the others approached the coffin. It had no lid, allowing them a clear view of the deceased’s remains.

Beauty Town’s first principle was beauty, so the body was surrounded by dried flowers for embellishment.

As with the portrait in the downstairs spirit shed, the deceased was a very young woman with delicate features and superior looks. But due to death, her face had turned ashen.

She looked no different from an ordinary corpse—the only distinction being that her eyes were open.

She had been dead for a day, and prolonged exposure to the air had turned her eyes fish-like, wide open with murky pupils, the iris and whites covered in gray spots.

Not just her eyes—Yun Xueqing noticed that improper storage had allowed microbes to invade and decompose her body, sprouting small corpse spots.

Someone couldn’t help but say, “Since she’s already dead, let’s just bury her and be done with it.”

The Mourning Envoy, silent until now, suddenly spoke. “She must undergo three days of beauty purification. Of course, this beauty evolution requires all of you to complete it with me.”

At the mention of beauty, the Beauty Town residents—who had been somewhat resentful at being dragged here for unpaid labor—suddenly fell quiet.

If it was for pursuing beauty, then these three days wouldn’t be a waste.

As residents of Beauty Town, their life’s goal was the pursuit of beauty.

Seeing them quiet down, the Mourning Envoy’s tone turned icy, her expression more corpse-like than the one in the coffin. “Then I thank you all. Next, please complete the task for Day 1: embalming and applying funeral makeup.”

Embalming was standard for handling the body in any normal funeral, but applying makeup was rare—though not unheard of.

This was a Weird Domain. Makeup on a corpse meant direct contact with the body. Who knew what might happen? The thought alone was terrifying.

The Mourning Envoy scanned the crowd. “For Day 1’s task, we’ll go in reverse order of arrival.”

Reverse order meant the last to arrive went first to do the corpse’s makeup.

Yun Xueqing and the other two frowned: They weren’t the absolute last, but they were near the end, so today’s task would definitely fall to them.

Makeup on a corpse was truly beyond their scope. Everyone present was an ordinary person, and they began whispering among themselves.

A man stepped forward. “I don’t know how to do makeup. My hands are clumsy. Can I skip today’s task?”

He was the very last to arrive. Unwilling to participate but afraid of punishment from the Mourning Envoy if he didn’t show, he had dawdled and ended up last.

Now, hearing it involved something so dangerous, he simply found an excuse to bail.

The Mourning Envoy approached him expressionlessly. “Alright. You don’t need to participate in today’s task.”

As soon as she finished speaking, her hand moved. She swung her sleeve like a blade toward the man’s neck.

Her hand struck like a knife, severing his neck cleanly. Blood from the artery spurted out, slippery like an eel, spraying nonstop.

The man’s head flew off, his face still bearing a relieved expression from moments before.

The Mourning Envoy remained expressionless. “You don’t need to participate in today’s task—or any future ones. In Beauty Town, someone who doesn’t know makeup, who doesn’t know how to make themselves more beautiful, has no reason to live.”

This display stunned everyone present. No one screamed—everyone was too shocked by her movements to react.

It was as if their napes were gripped tight; no one dared move or make a sound, fearing they would be next.

The Mourning Envoy glanced at the crowd. “Any objections?”

The group cowered like quails, not daring to say a word, only nodding in unison.

Expressionless, she pointed at the second-to-last arrival. “You. Do the first step: coat the entire body in white.”

The woman pointed to trembled as if about to cry but didn’t dare. She could only follow the Mourning Envoy’s instructions and take the makeup tools from nearby.

For corpse makeup, of course, they weren’t ordinary tools. Besides standard cosmetics, there was a box of white clay.

The white clay was for base coverage to conceal corpse spots, thick like paint and emitting a pungent odor.

San Zhi sniffed the scent of the white clay in the air and laughed. “Mixed with Corpse Oil. Quite the idea.”